May 13, 2011 at 9:00 pm in Crossposts
You know how people complain that academia (the institution, not necessarily the individual members) is part of the “ivory tower” complex, detached from the realities of society, etc.? I do not necessarily agree with that, however, I just had a “shaking fist” moment at my screen. Read the rest of this entry →
April 29, 2011 at 9:00 pm in Crossposts
Today, speculations run wild on the menu for the British Royal Wedding. The National provides a helpful run down of the possibilities: Read the rest of this entry →
April 15, 2011 at 9:00 pm in Crossposts
I have been known to utter this from time to time. Rage. RAGE! That’s usually the underlying emotion behind the utterance. Read the rest of this entry →
March 25, 2011 at 9:00 pm in Crossposts
TV failure of the week: Harry’s Law. Read the rest of this entry →
March 18, 2011 at 9:00 pm in Crossposts
I’ve been meaning to write about the “Buy Local” trend for a while. You know which one, the pandering about eating locally grown/produced foods, buying clothes made within the community, etc. The reasoning behind it is quite logical, it makes sense in a sustainable kind of way. You support your local community, you support yourself (help create jobs, do your part to reduce carbon footprint, etc.). Read the rest of this entry →
March 11, 2011 at 9:00 pm in Crossposts
I am kind of disappointed in the coverage of Galliano’s last collection for Dior. Mostly because it seems to be a big missed opportunity in terms of discussing fashion and more importantly, the beauty standards imposed by the fashion industry. Read the rest of this entry →
February 25, 2011 at 5:00 pm in Crossposts
I know many often wonder what they can do to raise awareness and be actors in bringing change. For the past few days we have seen an unusual assault on reproductive rights and women’s bodies. March 8th, International Women’s Day, would be a great opportunity to raise awareness of the fact that we are a long way from true equality and we can do something about it, especially with some planning and forethought. So, what can we do about it? A number of things, but here are some suggestions. Read the rest of this entry →
February 18, 2011 at 9:00 pm in Crossposts
For anyone that doubts the lesser status of women in the highest echelons of English speaking literature, here’s a great article from last week to get a good reality check, courtesy of the NY Times. Today, ten years into the 21st Century, two of the most prestigious literary clubs in London and New York, are still debating if women should be freely allowed to join or not. Read the rest of this entry →
February 11, 2011 at 10:00 am in Crossposts
It is the weekend, which means that I spend less time online and more time baking delicious and fatty foods. Which is kinda pertinent to the article that I just came across, on Business Week (via Jezebel) on the effect on BMI of children of working mothers. Read the rest of this entry →
February 4, 2011 at 10:00 am in Crossposts
This week’s infuriating moment courtesy of the gift that keeps giving in bigotry: Geert Wilder’s party, PVV (acronym, in Dutch for the Orwellian name of “Freedom Party”). Read the rest of this entry →
January 28, 2011 at 10:00 am in Crossposts
Addiction. Chemical Addiction. Substance abuse. Dependence. All of these words are used more or less interchangeably in media. Chances are, if you pick a newspaper in any major city in the Western world, you are likely to come into, at least, one item discussing or mentioning Chemical Addiction. Read the rest of this entry →
January 21, 2011 at 10:00 am in Crossposts
Yesterday I posted that trite fashion feature, courtesy of Time Magazine, about women who looked fat at the Golden Globes Award show. I was shocked that a serious news organization would provide exposure to ideas that are more suitable for TMZ or some Livejournal blogs. Read the rest of this entry →
January 14, 2011 at 10:00 am in Crossposts
Yesterday, during TMI Tuesday hour, I was asked if I had an opinion about this article on Dutch women and workforce disparities. The article in question highlights the fact that few Dutch women work full time and even fewer seek a career in the traditional sense. Read the rest of this entry →
January 7, 2011 at 10:00 am in Crossposts
[pullquote]The world’s four richest citizens — Carlos Slim, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Mukesh Ambani — have more in common with each other than they do with the bottom strata of their respective countries. Yes, they do handle their wealth differently. Gates and Buffett are giving most of it away, Ambani just built the world’s most expensive house, and Slim is somewhere in the middle. But all four can count on their home governments to take care of their needs first. Preserving that kind of social hierarchy is an unwritten assumption in deciding which solutions to the world’s problems arrive on the table and which do not. [/pullquote](Source)
The four richest men share a combined wealth bigger than that of the 57 poorest countries together.
Just to give an idea of the magnitude, I checked the Wikipedia page for the index of poorest countries. To measure this wealth, I used the gross domestic product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita, that is, the value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year divided by the average (or mid-year) population for the same year. To put it in layman terms, this index tells us the total money value of all final goods and services that are produced in an economy over a period of time.
This is the list of the 20 poorest ones (by decreasing order; meaning Zimbabwe is the poorest in the list), together with the population figures in millions. This gives us a combined population of 339.8 million people. I do not have the time to go through all 57 countries, but I believe this shortened list gives a good idea. The combined wealth of this four men, equals the combined production of these countries in a given year (population figures in millions next to each country):
Now, I would love for someone to come and tell me that privilege, as a concept to analyze socioeconomic facts and trends, does not exist.
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by redlightpolitics
Crosspost: Astroturfing: The (Fake) Grass That is not Always Greener
December 24, 2010 at 10:00 am in Crossposts
Astroturf is a kind of fake grass that was originally developed by Monsanto. It is also the slang name of a political phenomenon, subject of a very interesting article at The Guardian, These astroturf libertarians are the real threat to internet democracy. Read the rest of this entry →
Tags: andura, astroturfing, company servers, crossposts, fake grass, gm pollen, guardian articles, internet democracy, jonathan matthews, mexican corn, political phenomenon, politics, red light politics, tax avoidance, trolls with commenting abilities Comments Off